Stoke City v Swansea City - preview of Saturday's Premier League match

Last Updated: September 29, 2012 10:14am

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Tony Pulis: Stoke boss still searching for his first win of the new season

Tony Pulis: Stoke boss still searching for his first win of the new season

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Stoke welcome Swansea to the Britannia Stadium still searching for their first win of the new Premier League season.

The Potters have only suffered one top-flight defeat so far, going down to a late Ashley Cole goal at Chelsea last weekend, with their four other fixtures ending as draws.

Michael Laudrup's visitors have stuttered following an impressive opening to the campaign, with back-to-back defeats coming at the hands of Aston Villa and Everton.

The Swans returned to winning ways in midweek, but it was a far-from convincing success as they were on the brink of a Capital One Cup shock against Crawley, before Garry Monk spared their blushes.

Recent encounters between the two teams have been tight affairs, with seven league meetings in a row finishing with a 2-1 score-line, before both Premier League matches last season ended 2-0.

Tony Pulis' side have won just one of their last 16 Premier League games (W1 D10 L5) and none of the last 11 (W0 D8 L3), although they are unbeaten in their last nine games at the Britannia Stadium (W3 D6 L0), a run that started with a win over Swansea, but they have drawn their last five in a row.

Stoke City Badge Stoke City

Last 6

  1. Southampton (a) 1-1
  2. Tottenham (h) 1-2
  3. Sunderland (a) 1-1
  4. Norwich (h) 1-0
  5. QPR (a) 0-2
  6. Man Utd (h) 0-2

Stoke boss Pulis has a fully-fit squad to select from for the clash with Swansea at the Britannia Stadium.

Midfielder Charlie Adam came off during the 1-0 defeat at Chelsea last weekend due to illness, but has recovered in time for the visit of the Swans.

One Potters player who will not feature is defender Andy Wilkinson, who serves the second match of a three-game suspension.

Swansea Badge Swansea

Last 6

  1. Fulham (h) 0-3
  2. Man Utd (a) 2-1
  3. Wigan (a) 2-3
  4. Man City (h) 0-0
  5. Chelsea (a) 2-0
  6. Southampton (h) 0-0

Swansea are boosted by the return of Chico Flores and Nathan Dyer from suspension.

Defender Flores has missed three games since his red card against Sunderland, while winger Dyer sat out the Capital One Cup win over Crawley after his dismissal against Everton.

Manager Laudrup expects Jonathan de Guzman and Ashley Williams (both ankle) and Pablo Hernandez (knee) to shake off injuries to feature, but Kemy Agustien is out with a calf injury.

Opta Facts

  • 75% of the goals Stoke have scored have been from set pieces, the highest proportion in the top flight
  • Swansea have lost all three Premier League games away from home against other sides called u201cCityu201d
  • Swansea have made the lowest percentage of their passes in the final third (23%), while Stoke have made the highest percentage (40%)

Previous game's starting line-ups

4-4-2
  • Begovic 1 Begovic
  • Shotton 30 Shotton
  • Shawcross 17 Shawcross
  • Huth 4 Huth
  • Wilson 12 Wilson

  • Cameron 2 Cameron
  • Whitehead 18 Whitehead
  • N'Zonzi 15 N'Zonzi
  • Etherington 26 Etherington

  • Crouch 25 Crouch
  • Walters 19 Walters

Team taken from Stoke City vs Southampton (Barclays Premier League) on Sunday 19th May 2013

4-5-1
  • Vorm 1 Vorm
  • Rangel 22 Rangel
  • Chico 4 Chico
  • Williams A 6 Williams A
  • Davies 33 Davies

  • Hernandez 11 Hernandez

  • Britton 7 Britton
  • Routledge 15 Routledge
  • de Guzman 20 de Guzman

  • Dyer 12 Dyer
  • Michu 9 Michu

Team taken from Swansea vs Fulham (Barclays Premier League) on Sunday 19th May 2013


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